Source

Pronunciation

• IPA: /soəɹs/, /sɔːɹs/, /sɔːs/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)s
• Homophones: sauce (in some non-rhotic dialects)

Origin

From Middle English sours, from Old French sorse ("rise, beginning, spring, source"), from sors, past participle of sordre, sourdre, from Latin surgere ("to rise"); see surge. Compare sourd

Full definition of source

Noun

1. The person, place, or thing from which something (information, goods, etc.) comes or is acquired.
   The accused refused to reveal the source of the illegal drugs she was selling.
• 2006, Edwin Black, Internal Combustion Chapter 2, More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel.
• 2013-07-06, The rise of smart beta, Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.
2. Spring; fountainhead; wellhead; any collection of water on or under the surface of the ground in which a stream originates.
   The main sources of the Euphrates River are the Karasu and Murat Rivers.
• 2013-08-16, John Vidal, Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas, Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.
3. A reporter's informant.
4. (computing) Source code.
5. (electronics) The name of one terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).

Synonyms

• wellspring

Derived terms

• sourceless
• source code
• primary source
• secondary source
• tertiary source

Related terms

• resource

Verb

1. (chiefly US) To obtain or procure: used especially of a business resource.
2. (transitive) To find information about (a quotation)'s source (from which it comes): to find a citation for.

Derived terms

• (mainly US) sourcing
• (mainly US) insourcing
• (mainly US) outsourcing

Anagrams

• cerous, 'course, course